NOTES

SIGNIFICANT
FIGURES (SIG FIGS)
ANY DIGIT OF MEASUREMENT
KNOWN WITH CERTAINTY PLUS
ONE FINAL DIGIT WHICH IS
ESTIMATED.

ACCURACY AND PRECISION

SIG FIGS HAVE TO DO MORE WITH THE

ACCURACY OF A MEASUREMENT
THAN PRECISION.
ACCURACY HOW CLOSE A
MEASUREMENT IS TO ITS ACCEPTED
VALUE.
PRECISION HOW CLOSE A SET OF
MEASUREMENTS ARE TO EACH
OTHER.

ACCURACY & PRECISION

SUPPOSE A SET OF MEASUREMENTS
OF A SAMPLE OF GOLD ARE AS
FOLLOWS:
1. 25 g, 1.28 g, 1.30 g, 1.24 g
THE ACCEPTED MASS OF THE SAMPLE IS
2.20 GRAMS.
ARE THE MEASUREMENTS PRECISE?

ARE THE MEASUREMENTS ACCURATE?

ACCURACY AND PRECISION

WHICH PICTURE
IS PRECISE,
ACCURATE,
BOTH, NEITHER?
KNOW THE
DIFFERENCE AND
BE ABLE TO
EXPLAIN WHY

THE
PICTURE
ABOVE IS
__________

THE
PICTURE
ABOVE IS
__________

__________

__________

ACCURACY AND PRECISION

IS IT POSSIBLE TO HAVE PRECISION

WITHOUT ACCURACY? WHY/WHY NOT?

IS IT POSSIBLE TO HAVE ACCURACY

WITHOUT PRECISION? WHY/WHY NOT?

SIG FIGS AND ACCURACY

REMEMBER THE RULE OF DETERMINING

THE NUMBER OF SIG FIGS. FOR ANY
MEASUREMENT.

YOU CAN ALWAYS ESTIMATE ONE

DECIMAL PLACE SMALLER THAN THE
SMALLEST GRADUATION ON THE
MEASURING INSTRUMENT.

EXAMPLE OF ESTIMATIONS

WHAT IS THE BEST ESTIMATE OF THIS

MEASUREMENT (REMEMBER YOUR RULE)

IF YOU ANSWERED AROUND 0.6 M,

THAT IS RIGHT! (INCREMENT IS ONES
PLACE)

EXAMPLE OF ESTIMATIONS

WHAT IS THE BEST ESTIMATE OF THIS

MEASUREMENT?

IF YOUANSWERED 66 CM, YOU ARE RIGHT

EXAMPLE OF ESTIMATIONS

WHAT IS THE BEST ESTIMATE OF THIS

MEASUREMENT?

APPROXIMATELY 64.5 CM

RULES TO DETERMINE THE

NUMBER OF SIG FIGS.

1. ALL NONZERO DIGITS ARE

SIGNIFICANT (MEANING THEY CAN
DEFINITELY BE MEASURED).

2. ZEROS BETWEEN NON-ZERO DIGITS

ARE ALWAYS SIGNIFICANT.

RULES TO DERMINE THE

NUMBER OF SIG FIGS.

3. ZEROS IN A MEASUREMENT
WHERE THERE IS NO DECIMAL POINT
ARE NOT SIGNIFICANT, EXCEPT AS IN
RULE #2.
HOW MANY SIG FIGS ARE IN THESE
MEASUREMENTS?

A. 2500 cm B. 1001 m
C. 125 g D. 48080900 L

ZERO AS A SIG FIG.

4. ZEROS ARE SIGNIFICANT IF A

DECIMAL POINT IS PRESENT AND THEY
ARE PRECEDED BY A NON-ZERO DIGIT.
HOW MANY SIG FIGS ARE IN THESE
MEASUREMENTS?

A. 2500. CM
C. 0.025 CM

B. 2500.0 CM
D. 0.0006700300 CM

MORE PRACTICE COUNTING

SIG FIGS.

1. 5.345 x 10-3 L
3. 4.200 x 105 dL
5. 50, 700 mm
8. 1,000,000 miles
9. 100 inches
11. 70.0 mm
13. 300 cars

2. 0.00073 m
4. 40.007 G
6. 0.070020 km
8. 0.000003 L
10. 70. mm
12. 70 mm

ROUNDING OFF TO A
CERTAIN NUMBER OF SIG
SOMETIMES WEFIGS.
HAVE TO ROUND

MEASURMENTS OFF TO A CERTAIN

NUMBER OF SIG FIGS.
EXAMPLES:

ROUND 107.5 m TO 2 SIG FIGS.

ROUND 7.30 CM TO 1 SIG FIG
ROUND 4.7530 x 10-3 TO 2 SIG FIGS
ROUND 0.0003440 km TO 1 SIG FIG.

HANDLING
MEASUREMENTS USING SIG
ANOTHER RULE FIGS.
- WHENEVER WE USE

MEASUREMENTS IN A MATHEMATICAL
CALCULATION, WE CAN NOT BE MORE
ACCURATE THAN OUR LEAST ACCURATE
MEASUREMENT.
THEREFORE, WE CAN NOT USE MORE SIG
FIGS THAN OUR MEASUREMENT WITH
THE LEAST NUMBER OF SIG FIGS.

MULTIPLYING AND
DIVIDING WITH SIG. FIGS.
THE NUMBER OF SIG FIGS IN YOUR
ANSWER CAN NOT BE MORE THAN THE
FEWEST GIVEN SIG FIGS.
EXAMPLES:

0.250 CM x 2.0 CM =
5.0 M x 5.0 M =
5 M x 5.0 M =
5Mx5M=
640.0 M2 / 8 M =

ADDING AND SUBTRACTING WITH

SIG FIGS. DONT USE SIG FIGS,
LOOK AFTER DECIMAL POINT

RULE OUR ANSWER CANNOT CONTAIN

MORE DIGITS AFTER THE DECIMAL POINT
THAN THE LEAST NUMBER OF DIGITS
AFTER THE DECIMAL POINT GIVEN
(ZEROS COUNT HERE!) ROUND AFTER
THE OPERATION
EXAMPLES:

1. 6.000 M + 0.06 M =
2. 0.8 CG - 0.243 CG =